Malemn, Deepak Prakash, and Vinoth Kumar in Rob Bann’s U-22 selection trials

Aircraftsmen Malemn, Deepak Prakash, and Vinoth Kumar will be a part of the 64 players attending the U-22 selection trials. This trial is a build-up for the U-22 Asian Cup scheduled next year.

Also, Garden City boys Shankar S, Vishal Kumar Ravindra (both Pailan Arrows), and Niroshan Mani (Sporting Clube de Goa) too makes to the list.

Under the watchful eyes of AIFF Technical Director Rob Baan and Head Coach, Youth Development, Mr. Colm Toal, this trial will be held in the Pailan World School, Kolkata from March 3 thru March 8.

The shortlisted players would be called for a Preparatory Camp later. U-22 players on the National duty for the AFC Challenge Cup won’t be able to attend trials.

Interestingly, Vinoth Kumar is selected as a forward, the position he has hardly played in I-League. Also, Deepak Prakash has been hardly used by HAL coach in this season. Pailan Arrows ward Vishal Ravindra is hardly seen playing in this season. Promising Shankar was forced to sit out for more than a season. After recuperating in the Pailan Arrows camp, he is recovered now, and raring to go.

Hope these players can showcase their skills in the trials!

64-member squad

GOALKEEPERS: Jagroop Singh (Prayag United SC); Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Jayanta Paul (both Kingfisher East Bengal); Ishan Debnath (Mumbai FC); Ravi Kumar, Sayan Roy (both Pailan Arrows), Soram Poirei Angamba (Shillong Lajong FC).

DEFENDERS: Collin Abranches (Air India), Abhishek Das, Saikat Saha Roy (both Kingfisher East Bengal), Joy Mrong Kharraswai, Ronaldo Zothanzama (both Shillong Lajong); Sourav Chakraborty (McDowells Mohun Bagan); Akashdeep Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Arijeet Singh, Sonu Beniwal, Vishal Kumar, Souvik Ghosh, Deepak Devrani, Prathmesh Maulingkar, Pritam Kotal, Irfan Khan, Chingkhei Yumnam, Jayabrata Dhar, Ravinder Singh, Lalrozama Fanai (all Pailan Arrows); Rollingson Hungyo (Pune FC), Joyner Monte Lourenco (Sporting Clube de Goa), Manpreet, Narayan Das (both TATA Football Academy).

MIDFIELDERS: Usman Ashik (Chirag United Kerala); Lalrindika Ralte (Churchill Brothers SC); Brian Mascarenhas, Romeo Fernandes (both Dempo SC); KSH Malemngangba Meiti, Deepak Prakash (both Hindustan Aeronautics Limited); Souvik Chakraborthy, Manish Bhargav (both McDowells Mohun Bagan); Bikramjit Singh (Sr), Ongnam Milan Singh, Sehnaj Singh, Prabir Das, Tirthankar Sarkar, Shankar S, Yaikhom Randhan Meetei, Simranjeet Singh, Siam Hangal, Pronoy Haldar (all Pailan Arrows);  Ganeshan (Pune FC), Senhasis Datta (Prayag United SC), Clifton Dias (Salgaocar SC), Borges Rowllin, Niroshan Mani, Stephene Barreto (all Sporting Clube de Goa); Jonychand Singh (SESA); Shahir S (Chirag United Kerala);

FORWARDS: Manandeep Singh (Air India); Vinoth Kumar (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited); Bijendra Rai, Malswamfela, Holicharan Narzary, Alwin George, Pankaj Sona, Rajinder Kumar, Sumit Passi (all Pailan Arrows); Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC); Pritam Singh (Sporting Clube de Goa).

Performance analysis - KGF Academy in I-League II Division Qualifiers

As the I-League II Division Qualifiers comes to the penultimate day and the qualifiers are almost decided, let’s take a look at the performance of the only Bangalore connection this time, KGF Academy. 

KGF Academy might have failed to qualify this time, but they ended their campaign on a high note, especially, after losing first four rounds on a trot.

Coach Raman Vijayan always maintained that his boys were losing, despite of being a better side on the ground. The coach said, "Team is playing well, but we're missing chances, and at the end conceding goals". 

"Everybody is praising our team, but we are losing because of lack of match exposure." added Raman.

KGF Academy lacking big-time match exposure - something I anticipated much before. Conceding late goals proved to be a serious area of concern, and that happened in two matches. 

Well, we all hoped his team will continue playing well and most importantly get some points. 

The last three matches looked a different KGF Academy, winning by big margins – 14 goals in total. Most importantly, Nigerian striker Emmanuel Okoro scoring all seven goals in the last match, making his tally to 10.

Clinical striker, Okoro, who turned out JCT few seasons back is one of the foreign players that KGF Academy have in their ranks. 

Also, Okoro, played for a super division team in Kolkata, is all praise for the KGF coach, “Very nice coach I’ve ever meet in Indian football. He is really nice to everybody, we’re like brothers and friends.” 

“With this coach, the team will can go very far”, adds the Nigerian.

Here’s their I-League II Division campaign for 2011-12:

• R1: KGF Academy (Stephen–36') 1 lost to Mohammedan Sporting, Kolkata 4 (Stanley Cyprian–30', Sankar Sil–34', Surabuddin Mullick–54', Alfred K Jaryan–57')
• R2: KGF Academy 0 lost to Simla Youngs, New Delhi 1 (89'-Junya Kato)
• R3: KGF Academy 0 V lost to s Vasco, Goa 3 (Andrew Igago 14', Gerose Oliveria 31', Esha Alihah 77')
• R4: KGF Academy 0 lost to Langsing Sports Club, Meghalaya 1 (Yinka Joel Sunday-22')
• R5: KGF Academy 4 (Stephen-3', Emmanuel Okoro-6', 55', Murugappan-67') defeated Golden Threads, Kerala 2 (Arun KJ-59', Jimmy Abraham-89')
• R6: KGF Academy 3 (Emmanuel Okoro-39', Amoes-41', Monday Ugboji-81') defeated PIFA Colaba, Mumbai 1 (Nagesha Swamy-44')
• R7: KGF Academy 7 (Emmanuel Okoro-8', 23', 26', 43', 45', 47', 67') defeated Luangmual, Mizoram 1 (H Lalthangliana-10')

Year-wise performance of KGF Academy

Year	Pl	W	D	L	GD	P	Position
2009-10*	6	2	3	1	+4	9	3/7
2010-11*	6	1	0	5	-16	3	6/7
2011-12	7	3	0	4	+2	9	4/8

^*Team played as BEML in the 2010-11 and 2009-10 season.

National referee P Kabilan no more

P Kabilan, 46, National and Karnataka state referee expired yesterday midnight, at his residence, Periyar Nagar near Venkateshpuram. Kabilan left his wife Sheba, one daughter, and two sons. He was the son of late Palani, former Vice Chairman at Devara Jeevahalli Town Panchayat. 

Kabilan was an active referee and seen in the local matches. He officiated his last match on the ongoing BDFA B division match on January 23, between Minerva and Orientals. 

He was deputed as a referee for the various national-level age group matches - U-21, U-19, U-16, and U-14. 

Along with international player Babu Mani, Kabilan represented Karnataka state in the 1983 Junior National at Kolkata. During the local matches, he turned out for Telecom Football Club, HMT, LRDE, and RWF. 

Burial was taken place at the Pillana Garden Burial ground. A large football contingent from Periyarnagar attended the funeral.

 

One minute silence was observed in respect of P Kabilan in today’s BDFA B division match between BWSSB and Government Press. Also, the first match between Jupiters and Oriental was postponed today. Apparently, both the teams belong to the Periyar Nagar locality. This match was postponed to facilitate the teams to attend the funeral.

KSFA to conduct promotional referees examination

Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) will be conducting an entrance cum promotional football referees examination during the last week of April. 

Interested candidates between 18 to 28 years having passed SSLC examination with knowledge of Football can apply. Classes will be conducted in the month of March. 

For more information, you can contact:

• Shri M S Krishnamurthy, Chairman, Referees Board, KSFA
• Shri M R Ranganath, Referee Instructor and KSFA Administrator
• KSFA Office

Contact numbers: 080-25512996 / 9880I79080 / 9880649888

HAL gets back to losing ways

Riding on a huge away support, Shillong Lajong FC put up a spirited performance against HAL and defeated them 1-0. A long awaited win for the team from North-East that came after 5 rounds.

Midfielder, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, scored the goal in the 39^th minute of the match. Interestingly, the goal scorer has a strong Bangalore connection as he did his schooling from Bishop Cottons Boys School. Eugeneson captained Ar Hima last season and then he decided to turn out for an I-League team.

HAL could not do much with the goal, central defender Ramesh took a long time to charge, allowing Eugeneson to penetrate into the box. 

The score line could have been far worse if not for Aircraftmen keeper P Pramod’s nimbleness under the bar, he must have saved at least four goals.

With this win Shillong Lajong now have 21 points from 18 matches while HAL is languishing at the bottom of the table with 6 points from 18 matches.

Eugeneson Lyngdoh was awarded man of the match.